It is also truth that sin brings death, "..the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23 NIV).
We often don't see it with our eyes, many times it is not immediate, most often it is not physical but deadly in other ways, especially to those of us "who have been brought from death to life" (Romans 6:13 NIV).
The Book of Job has been the focus of recent Sunday School curriculum, so I'm brought again to look at Job, his situation, his faith and trust in God, his defense of himself, and the friends who brought him little comfort and encouragement.
Job and his friends were all of the understanding that if you obey God, you are blessed. If you break covenant with God, you suffer. So, when Job suffered, the quest began to figure it out. What had Job done to cause this suffering?
It is a hard concept, but this scripture bears it out....sometimes you just can't figure it out. Even when you do all the right things, you might find yourself in difficult and hurtful situations.
Job hashed it and rehashed it with his friends. Even if they had 'figured it out', what is the point? What does it matter in the big picture what the 'why' is? The only thing of value is the 'how'. How we respond. How we endure. How we grow and mature. How we use the experience in the future. How we submit. How we repent. How we simply go forward.
Job couldn't explain what had happened in his life. He didn't have the luxury of reading the Book of Job and knowing about the greater spiritual battle going on. And when Job finally gave up trying to 'figure it out', God cleared up the issue. "Why do you talk without knowing what you're talking about?" (Job 38:2 The Message)
I purpose to learn this from Job today: I purpose to stop trying to figure out what God is doing and why. I purpose to simply live in the moment, step by step in obedient faith, for "I have not yet been made perfect. But I move on to take hold of what Christ Jesus took hold of me for.... I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. I move on toward the goal to win the prize..." (Php. 3:12-14 NirV).
I will never figure out God. I choose to believe, trust, and strive to obey. Today.
